Wayne
by Batfamily2001
Summary: Inspired by the movie Logan, Wayne follows an older Bruce Wayne as he is contracted by a mysterious entity to do one last mission as Batman. Batman, one of the last remaining beacons of hope, one of the last heroes. Bruce, one of the last ones still alive. Will he be able to complete his final mission? Also inspired by The Dark Knight Returns, Old Man Logan, and Batman Beyond.
1. Chapter 1

He wakes up from his sleep. Middle of the night. Third time this week. It's hard getting used to actually getting sleep. Especially for him.

He gets up and walks down the short hallway towards the kitchen. He pulls a beer bottle out, opens it, and sips it.

The window creaks opens to the small apartment and he reaches for knife on the kitchen table. "Bruce Wayne?" A young voice asks cockily.

"I think you have me confused with someone else. My name is Thomas Grayson," the old man with the dark gray beard responds, aggravation evident in his voice.

The young man laughs. "So this is what has become of the great BATMAN!" He mocks.

"Like I said, I think you have me confused with some…" the older man states sounding even more annoyed than before.

"Shut the hell up, old man!" The younger of the two shouts. He reaches into his torn leather jacket and pulls out a gun, aiming it at the elderly man. He walks closer putting the gun to the old man's temple. "Now where do you keep the money?"

"If I was Bruce Wayne, do you think I'd be living in this shitty apartment?" The older asks, perturbed at the familiar feeling of the metal pressed against his head.

"Does it look like I give a fuck what you say? All I want to know is where the fucking money is?" The young man shouts, spit flying in the older man's face as he does so.

The older begins tensing up and moving more towards the younger, growling through clenched teeth, "I don't know, where the fucking money is. Now get the hell out of my apartment."

"Tell me, or…. or... I'll blow your brains out!" The young man stutters, growing nervous as the man becomes more and more like the myths he heard his parents tell of the Batman.

The older narrows his eyes, then lets out a chilling chuckle, sending shivers down the young man's spine. "Like you have the guts! Besides, safety is on." The older taunts coldly.

The young man slowly pulls the trigger, angered by the taunt. The older man closes his eyes and slowly exhales, wondering if this will be his last breath. Wondering if he really cares.

The gun doesn't fire.

When he doesn't hear a bang, just a click, the old man becomes angry. He doesn't know if he's angrier that the man tried to kill him, or that he didn't succeed. The older man reaches up and disarms the man. He punches him in the ribs. Three snap like twigs. Then in the nose. It crushes under the pressure of his fist. Finally he kicks out his knee.

He picks up the now fallen enemy with ease, and walks him towards the window he came in through. He dangles him over the ledge, then without hesitating, drops him out of the window.

As the man falls two floors, the older closes the window, not caring about the agonizing scream he hears. As he locks the window, he doesn't notice the tapping of the even older man's cane as he gets closer and observes him. "Ma… Master Br… Bruce," the man exhales heavily, "you… you could've killed that man."

"I didn't." Bruce assures, agitated at the notion.

"How'd you know the safety was on?" The old man asks worried at what the answer may be.

Bruce hesitates momentarily, but not long enough that the man notices, "Because he was a minor crook, he wasn't going to kill me. He wouldn't. Besides, he wanted to know where the money was."

"Master Bruce…" the old man's voice chokes out.

"Don't worry about it Alfred." He says walking over to the couch with his beer and lying down. Drowning out his anger, his pain, his disappointment. The disappointment in himself, in the result of the battle. God how he's changed.

Ten years ago, he would've heard the criminal before he even started opening the window. Now, not only did he not hear him, but he let him put a gun to his head. And he told him to pull the trigger. And he was content with it all.

He grabs another beer and drowns out the thoughts. He drinks another. And he begins to sleep.

Knocking. Knocking. Knocking. Bruce gets up from the couch groggily. He walks over to the door looks through the peephole, unlocks the five different locks, then opens the door to a man preparing to knock once again. "Who are you?" Bruce mutters tiredly.

"I work for the CIA…" the man in the black and white suit begins.

"CIA isn't operating anymore. No government organization operates anymore. Not since President Luthor." Bruce tells him.

"Technically we don't."

Bruce eyes the man carefully. He looks him up and down. Expensive suit, plus he's got a gun under his jacket. "What do you want?"

"Someone high up wants you for a mission."

"Who do you think I am? You think I'm James Bond?" Bruce questions cynically.

"No, we think you're Batman." He replies matter of factly.

Bruce chuckles to himself. "Batman died ten years ago along with every other member of the Justice League." And it's the truth, Batman is a symbol, and all that symbol stood for is gone.

"'His' survival was covered up by my boss." The agent tells him.

Bruce's eyes widen in realization, "You work for…"

The CIA operative cuts him off, "The boss wouldn't like to make their presence known to anyone listening in."

"No one could find me, let alone listen in on me," Bruce answers.

"So someone didn't break in last night asking for Bruce Wayne? You've gotten old, sloppy…" the CIA operative looks him in the face and points towards the bottle by the doorway, "and you've started drinking."

"You come to recruit me or judge me?" Bruce asks aggravated at the man.

"Anyway, your mission is simple. You have to find someone and extract them for us." The agent tells him.

Bruce looks at him unsure for a moment. "Who is it?"

"Unimportant currently. If you choose to accept the mission, you will be told a special address to meet at where you will receive the rest of the details," He declares before beginning to walk away from Bruce, slowly.

"Can I at least know where I'm extracting the person from?" Bruce asks.

The man turns around, smirks, and responds, "Joker's territory."

Bruce stares with eyes as cold as steel. His fists clench at the mere mention of the name. His muscles tighten. "I'm in."

The man walks near and leans in and whispers to Bruce, "Meet us at your backup Batcave under GCPD in 24 hours." Bruce nods and the man walks away.

Bruce walks back into his apartment, slamming the door behind him. "Alfred! I'm going out of town for a couple days."

He hears the tapping of the cane hitting the floor, followed by the old man's voice. "Very well Master Bruce. Where to, if I may ask?"

"Joker's territory." He answers, disgusted by the name.

Tears threaten to slip from Alfred's eyes. "I will not let you!" He shouts waving his cane at Bruce. "I will NOT let him kill ANOTHER! Not after… you cannot go," Alfred pleads.

"I have to do this!" Bruce explains, hoping Alfred understands..

"You have a deathwish? Master Bruce, he wouldn't want you to…" Alfred cries out. The tears stream down his wrinkled face. He hunches over using the cane for support.

"IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT THE HELL HE WOULD WANT, ALFRED!" Bruce shouts. His voice becomes softer and more sullen, "He didn't deserve that. None of them did."

"And neither do you," Alfred tells him, a tear sliding down his cheek.

"You know I do," Bruce replies looking away. "My decision is final, you can't change my decision."

He grabs a beer before leaving Alfred behind in the kitchen. As he enters his room, he slam the door and punches the wall. It stings, but not enough. He hits it again, and again. His hand begins bleeding as he hits the wall. He takes a sip of the beer. Then hits the wall. He is both getting out his built up rage and sadness, and also punishing himself.

Punishing himself for all the pain he caused people. For the pain he's still causing to Alfred. The man doesn't deserve any of the things he's gone through. He lost a best friend in Thomas. And he's losing Bruce. And then there's everyone else that died.

Bruce forgets at times that he's not the only one suffering from loss. He's struggled with that since he was eight years old when his parents were gunned down in front of him. When he watched his friends die.

He lies down in his bed and closes his eyes and tries to get that out of his head. He tries to not think about all of the people that died. All of the people he hurt. All the people he couldn't save. He falls asleep.

For a short moment he's at peace, but it doesn't last long. Peace never lasts for Bruce. The nightmare start.

 _"Bruce…" Clark begs, "PLEASE, DO IT!"_

 _Bruce pulls down his mask, a tear slips past his eye. "I can't Clark."_

 _"YOU HAVE TO!" Clark says as his body becomes thinner and thinner, the energy and life sucked from him. "You have to kill me."_

And then Bruce wakes up, sweating, heart pounding. He looks to his side at the clock. 3 o'clock. He tries to close his eyes, but he can't. He can't see it again. He doesn't ever want to see it again. But, still it happens every night. Forever keeping him from getting a full night's sleep.

He can never get a full night's sleep. He hasn't since his parents were killed, and he never will again. He's too haunted.

He knows he can't just lay awake in bed. He gets up and decides to be productive. So he begins to pack for the trip ahead of him that he is going to take. He opens his drawer and opens the false bottom, revealing his Batman suit.

Torn.

It's torn all over. So long since he last wore it. At least nine years. The last time he wore it he vowed never again. And here he was, taking it out so he can wear it on a mission.

A mission that is in twenty hours. A mission that the government is running. A mission he took because of his damned emotions. He doesn't know anything about it. He doesn't even know how high up in the government it goes.

Lex? He doubts that the President is involved. Lex isn't motivated by much these days. Ever since the invasion, the US consists of the north east, south east, and part of the midwest. The rest belonging to criminals who have their own territory.

Criminals like the Joker. Vile, despicable human beings.

Lex exiled them to the land after almost all of the world was killed. He thought, 'The land is empty, might as well put the criminals somewhere where they can't kill innocents.'

But he was wrong. Some innocent people survived. Hence why Joker moved there. Why else would he? Why would he move somewhere where he can't ruin poor, innocent, miserable families lives. It wasn't like he was told. He offered before the program even became official. He couldn't wait to ruin more lives.

Lex of course tried to send in a team to evac them. Of course it didn't work though. Almost all of the military, navy, and airforce was killed during the invasion. The world's population went from 7 billion to barely over 100 million, in the course of a week and a half. So, he barely had a team to go in.

Bruce tried to help of course. All the remaining heroes did. But there weren't many left to begin with, and there are even less now. People think that he's dead too. It's better that way. Doesn't mean that he doesn't help though. Since the disaster ten years prior, he's worked in construction crews. Rebuilding homes, neighborhoods, cities. The only way he can really help.

Batman doesn't have a place in the world anymore. Neither does Bruce Wayne. Though Thomas Grayson, the construction worker does.

It's odd that he spent the majority of his life breaking bones and corrupt organizations, and now he's building things.

He places the Batsuit into his bag. Going into another drawer, he presses a red button and a special compartment pops out.

All his leftover gadgets and gear. He dumps the contents into the duffel bag and zips it. He throws it over by the door, and decides to take a run through Gotham.

He opens the door, and quietly closes it, careful not to wake Alfred. He runs down the flights of stairs and out the front door of the apartment building. He breathes in the air. Clean air.

That's one of the many things that makes it different. Sure, it's still called Gotham, but it's not Gotham. Not really. It still has crime, but it's not rampant. The city isn't overpopulated anymore. Most of the skyscrapers aren't standing tall anymore. It's not the Gotham Bruce grew up in.

He continues running through along the sidewalk. As he turns the corner of a toy shop, he runs into a man, knocking him over. "I'm sorry," Bruce apologizes, feeling bad that he just bulldozed into someone. "I should've been more careful."

"Don't worry about it," the younger man answers. As the moonlight shines on him, the man's appearance is able to be seen, and it is so hauntingly similar to that of Clark's. He wears thick framed glasses, and has his thick black hair parted to the left.

Bruce's breathing halts momentarily, as he realizes the similarities. He wants to reach out and hug the man, a way he rarely, if ever, feels. He can't speak, so instead, he just offers the young man a hand up, which he accepts.

"Well have a good night," Bruce tells him weakly. And they walk in opposite directions. Bruce looks back to make sure he didn't imagine it, but the darkness obscures the man from view.

Bruce feels sick, but he starts runs hard. And harder. Harder, past the point where he feels he may hurl. Until he gets to the old tavern. One of the few original buildings from Gotham. He throws open the door and walks into the quiet setting.

Sitting at the stool, he greets the bartender, telling him, "Gimme a shot of whatever is the strongest thing you have is."

The bartender nods, and places a shot glass in front of Bruce, and pours a drink into it. Bruce doesn't even hesitate, before throwing back the drink. Bruce signals the bartender for another, and he gets his wish. He throws it back. Repeat. Repeat.

He can barely walk when he gets out of the bar several hours later. He stumbles through the streets. Knocking into people. Everyone looks at him wondering what a drunk man is doing in the streets at almost six in the morning.

It takes him awhile to get back to the apartment. He takes a couple wrong turns, but eventually a cab driver pulled over and gave him a ride. Though he had to repeat the address a couple of times because his speech was so slurred. And he's not sure how much he gave the driver. All the faces on the bills looked the same.

He climbs the stairs cautiously, hugging onto the railing for support. He makes his way to his door and shakes the knob of the apartment, barely able to unlock it in the first place. The scent of beer overwhelming. The couch is a few feet away, and he falls into it barely.

He reaches for the bottle of beer at his feet and empties it, drinking the two sips left of the bottle. His eyes feel heavy, and he drifts into sleep. Basically the only way he can fall asleep.

He wakes up 6 hours later. Noonish. He has another 11 hours left.

11 hours.

How the hell is he going to pass that time. Any other day he'd drink. But, he can't show up wasted to see the head of the 'CIA'.

Well he could, but he doubts they'd send him into Joker's land if he shows up like that. And he NEEDS to go to Joker's territory. And when he gets there he will personally kill Joker, and also extract whoever they want.

But in his mind, his main job is to kill the Joker. To kill the man who caused so much pain and suffering. The man who destroyed his remaining family. He's going to do what he should have done all those years ago.

Bruce is snapped out of his thoughts of vengeance, by Alfred asking, "Master Bruce, would you like some lunch?"

"Alfred, you don't work for me anymore. You don't have to do anything for me. You don't owe me anything. I on the other hand," Bruce begins, "I owe you everything."

"If I let you cook for yourself, you would surely die of food poisoning within a week," Alfred retorts.

Bruce shakes his head responding, "I have the one of the highest IQ on the planet, I'm sure I can make lunch."

"You may have tons of intelligence, but it doesn't make up for modesty," Alfred jokes.

"That's why you're here, Alfred, to keep me in my place." Bruce replies jokingly. Alfred's glad for the moments of levity they can both have. Though they are brief and don't come around nearly as often as he wishes.

"I hate that you are going away to that place," Alfred says bringing seriousness into the conversation. He wishes he didn't have to bring it up, but things need to be said.

"I know, but I'll be back. I'll only be out of town for a week, two at most. I need to extract someone for the government."

Alfred glares at him not believing him. "If you say so. And what I said earlier, about him not approving, I'm sorry."

"I know. It's just hard without him." Bruce tells him sullenly. Disappointed in himself that it was Alfred who apologized first when it wasn't even him who did anything wrong.

"I know." Alfred says and he moves to embrace Bruce. And they stay hugging for a few moments, stuck in a sort of father-son embrace.

They break apart and Alfred tells him, "If you are going to go to that dreaded place, you have to be prepared. You should practice using your old weapons. And you should shave that bloody beard."

Bruce feels his beard and states, "Yeah, you're probably right."

"Probably? I know I'm bloody right! Now go shave that damn thing!" Alfred jokes.

Bruce exits the room and walks towards the bathroom. He picks up the razor and puts the blade to the hair.

Ten minutes later he exits the bathroom, freshly shaven. He walks over to Alfred who tells him, "My god, Master Bruce, you look 15 years younger. Now you need to move like you're fifteen years younger too." He hands him a batarang. "Try to hit that vase."

Bruce takes the batarang and brings his arm back in the motion. He aims and throws it. The batarang is a good inch off. "You best hope they don't make you do trials."

"Thanks for the motivation, Alfred," Bruce answers sarcastically. He walks over and picks up the batarang and tries again. It gets closer, but not quite. He tries again. Again.

The vase shatters.

"Good job," Alfred compliments, patting Bruce on the back. "Though, it's a bloody shame, I liked that vase."

Bruce smirks and picks up the batarang. He points at a stain on the wall. He aims and throws the batarang.

It slices through the air, whirling at its target. It strikes the concrete, and Bruce goes to examine if it hit it's target.

"You 'it it?" Alfred questions.

"Yeah, but just barely."

"Better than barely missing, ain't it?"

"That it is," Bruce agrees.

Alfred stares at him. "You like to try grappling next?" He asks half joking, half serious.

"I doubt I'll even have anything to grapple onto, Alfred," Bruce tells him, as he pulls the batarang from the wall. He takes the position he was in earlier and states, "I'm going to try to hit the same spot."

"Well get on with it! I don't have all day, and neither do you!"

Bruce pulls his arm back, he aims. He puts his full body into the throw. The batarang flies. Flies fast, and hard. It makes a loud noise as it connects with the wall. He walks over to the wall, announcing, "Almost."

He spends another few hours practicing on his aim until he gets to the point where he can hit the same spot twice and can hit a target he barely looked at. It's mostly muscle memory, so he doesn't need to work as hard developing his aim as he originally did.

Next, he works on his agility. He goes up on the roof, the way he trained when he was sixteen. He starts running. He increases his pace until he's fully sprinting. The building stops in ten feet and the next building is ten feet away and equal height.

As he reaches the end of the building, he jumps. His foot misses the roof, but before he falls his hand grabs hold. He pulls himself up and goes back into a sprint. The next building is about five feet out, but a good ten foot drop.

Bruce exhales his breath as he jumps and lands with a roll onto the building. From the roll, he goes back into his run. People are staring now, at the man running along the rooftops in broad daylight.

Sliding to a stop, he jumps down onto a fire escape. Then he vaults over that and lands on the ground with a roll. His breathing is heavy from a lack of doing this over the years.

He walks into the street and waves for a taxi. He gets in and gives him the address to Wayne Manor.

After he was reported dead and his identity revealed, Wayne Manor was declared the official Batman museum. That was before they even found the Batcave. They didn't even have to do anything to the Batcave, Bruce had memorabilia all over anyway.

However, what they didn't find in the Batcave, was Bruce's special vault. A giant insanely difficult to crack safe that led to a huge room where he kept his many vehicles.

Bruce needs a vehicle to get to Joker's territory after all. Sure the government will try to provide him with one, but nothing beats a Batmobile. He goes in through a secret entrance that no one has found that leads directly to the vehicles.

He taps the code into the vault. Then he presses his thumb to the panel. Then his eye is scanned. Then he speaks the word, "Thomas." Finally the vault opens to the hall of vehicles.

Pulling the dust filled tarp off, revealing a shiny, long, slim, black car. "Open," he commands. The top of the vehicle slides back revealing the cockpit. He hops in and the roof closes. He revs the engine and drives out of the cave.


	2. Chapter 2

It's finally time. It's finally time that he has to go meet with the government. He's twenty minutes away from the police station where the extra Batcave is, ten if he really steps on it.

Ten minutes it is.

He slams down on the gas pedal propelling the car forward towards the old GCPD building. Well, old isn't quite the right word. It's still in use and it was remodeled not too long ago, but it doesn't feel the same. Not with Gordon not being Commissioner anymore. And Bullock retired as well. It's just not the same.

Bruce presses a button on the Batmobile interface, as he gets close to GCPD. The button opens an old secret entrance to the second Batcave.

He swerves towards the secret tunnel, that's dimly lit, and drives to the main area. The tires screech as he pulls to a stop on the main platform. The top of the Batmobile opens, and Bruce hops out of the car.

"I'm here!" He calls out to nowhere in particular.

"I can see that," a feminine voice replies with a tiny bit of sarcasm.

"Waller," Bruce greets in a way almost like old friends would.

"Hello Bruce," she replies as she steps out of the shadow and into the light.

Bruce looks at the person who he's been at odds with, allies with, and eventually friends with, "It's been too long."

She nods in agreement, "That it has, Bruce. I wish we were meeting under better circumstances."

"So do I," he agrees. "How'd you find out about this place?"

"I knew about all of your hideouts, except for that bunker you had out in Central City," she explains, eyes falling to the ground at the mention of Central.

He eyes her, trying to read her through her expressions, her voice, anything, but nothing. "You going to tell me the mission, Amanda?"

"Once the others arrive," She tells him.

"Others? What others?" Bruce questions, hating that he's not in the loop.

"You'll find out once they arrive." She responds, loving that he doesn't feel comfortable.

Bruce looks at her cautiously. Amanda Waller has always been one of the few people that Bruce can't read easily, and he hates it. Add the fact that he's out of practice, well that makes it even more difficult.

Finally he hears a car drive down the tunnel. The headlights blind him, so that he can't see the driver. "Sorry that I'm late," The man calls out.

Bruce's eyes widen, it's like seeing a ghost. He rushes over the person, "Oliver, I thought you were dead."

"And I thought the same of you. Turns out we both just went off the grid," Oliver states, sporting his signature grin.

Bruce examines him, realizing that Oliver isn't the same. "Oliver, your hand," Bruce says pointing at the animatronic hand.

"Yeah, not as cool as Arthur's hook hand, but it works a hell of a lot better," he jokes, chuckling at his own joke, while feeling a little conscious about it.

Bruce turns back to Waller, "So it's just the two of us?"

Waller smirks, "Nope, one more. And boy are you in for a surprise."

They hear a motorcycle riding through the tunnel. On the motorcycle sits an athletically built thief. A thief that has gotten older but doesn't look any different. A thief that Bruce has tangled with several times. Some might even say a cat burglar.

"Bruce," the cat greets.

"Selina, you look well."

"You don't look too bad yourself." She replies with a suggestive smile.

"Can you guys not flirt right now? Yeah? Thanks." Oliver asks.

Waller looks around, "Now that you three are here, are you prepared for your mission." They all nod and she continues, "You still have a chance to decline and leave, if not you are accepting." She waits a minute and smiles. "Good. Your mission is to go to Joker's Territory and extract an important asset. That asset's name is Terry McGinnis. He is an eleven year old boy caucasian, black hair, blue eyes. He is roughly sixty inches and eighty pounds. He is to be extracted and kept safe at all costs. Any questions?"

"Yeah, why do we have to extract a kid? I mean don't get me wrong I will do it no matter what, though there are tons of kids in the territory. What makes him special?" Oliver asks, taking a bite of an apple that no one noticed he had..

"That would be classified." She says happily, almost like she wants a fight.

"That's bullshit!" Oliver yells at her.

"If you have a problem, please take it up with the president," Waller tells him.

"OKAY! Where the hell is he?" Oliver asks wide armed.

"Right here, Mr. Queen. Bruce, Selina." Lex greets smiling walking down from another platform

"Lex," Bruce and Selina greet simultaneously.

"Okay, now I know something's up, who the hell is this kid?" Oliver asks, genuine curiosity in his voice.

"He is a genetically modified human. When the world is finally repopulated enough, we will need heroes. And as much as I hate to say it, none of you will be able to do much by then."

"I was never a hero in the first place, Lex," Selina tells him.

"Be that as it may, you are still one of the few people who can help us." Lex tells her, total seriousness in his voice.

"What do I get out of it?" Selina questions, hoping for something shiny, though she'll help even without any incentive. Getting to work alongside Bruce again, that's incentive enough for her.

"How does an office in Washington sound?" Lex asks.

"Not my style." She answers with a sly smirk.

"Thought you'd say that. How about a worthless artifact that I acquired recently. My people found it in the remains of Egypt. It's been dubbed the Crystal Cat."

"Now that… that sounds like something that interests me."

"As for you Mr. Queen, how about a new hand. One that doesn't look like the Terminator's when he doesn't have the layer of skin. Something that will be indistinguishable from your actual flesh." Lex asks, giving it almost like a sales pitch.

"I would've done it for free," Oliver says with a smirk, "But, I'll do it for a free hand as well."

"As for your Mr. Wayne…"

"I'm not a mercenary, Luthor. I don't do things for money." Bruce tells him sternly.

"And I respect that, but that office in Washington is open to you as well. I know you're looking for a way to make a difference, and a position of power could be the perfect way," Lex offers. Bruce remains quiet. "Okay, we'll talk about it when you get back."

"When do we leave?" Bruce asks, focussed solely on the mission.

"Tomorrow morning," Lex responds, "So, you guys should go get some rest."

Oliver smiles and replies, "Please, like these two are gonna get any 'sleep'."

Lex smiles and walks away, "Tomorrow, eight o'clock, be here."

"It's not like have anything better to do!" Oliver calls out seriously, putting his 'hands' around his mouth to amplify his voice. "So what are we…" Oliver starts saying before Bruce starts walking the other way.

"I'll see you both tomorrow," Bruce tells them, walking further away from the two.

Selina puts her hand on his arm, a familiar feeling, "Bruce… I just, I want to say I'm sorry about…"

Bruce looks away, cutting her off, "Thank you. Night." Bruce stalks away over to the Batmobile. He clicks a button and the car top pops up. Swiftly, he hops in, and the top closes over him. He revs the engine, and spins the car around, driving out the exit.

"Yeah, I guess Selina and I will just hang here!" Ollie shouts, before turning around to realize he's alone in a giant cave. "I like the Quiver better," he mumbles to himself.

Bruce continues to driving to the most upscale area of Gotham, the part that he could live in if he chose to. The area where they're staying. He takes a sharp turn, making the tires screech. He ejects himself from the car and glides.

He grabs ahold of the building and climbs up onto the balcony, looking in through the glass. "How's it been Bruce?" The sound of an old friend greets as the glass door slides open.

"Fine, you?" Bruce asks staring at the nine year old boy running around inside. A boy with red hair, bright blue eyes, and tan skin.

"Well, thanks," the man returns. He looks back inside at the child. "Bruce, I wish you visited more, we all miss you."

Bruce nods in acknowledgement, "I know Jim. I haven't been in the best condition as of late though."

"I haven't seen you in almost a decade," Gordon tells him, "You haven't even met your grandson, for god's sake." Gordon shakes his head, exhaling heavily. "The only reason I know you're alive is because Alfred calls every week." He looks back inside and motions towards the boy, "Bruce asks about you all the time, you know?"

Bruce laughs to himself, "Out of all the names, I still have no idea why in the hell they chose to name him after me."

"Because you're Dick's father and was like one to Barbara as well," Jim tells him. "So, why'd you come by?"

Bruce looks at him seriously giving him a package as he says, "I'm going away, I should be back in a week or two, if I don't come back… give this to Bruce when he's older." Gordon begins lifting open the box, but Bruce stops him, "Not now, if you want, look later." Bruce walks over to the ledge, "I'll see you later Jim."

"See you later Bruce." Jim waves, and turns around heading back to the house, knowing damn well Bruce is already gone.

He slides open the glass door and the young boy runs over to him, "Grandpa, who was that?"

A tear slips from Gordon's eye, and he lifts his glasses to wife it. "Just an old friend of Grandpa's. One that I haven't seen in a helluva long time."

"Mommy says Hell is a bad word," the boy tells Gordon.

Gordon chuckles, "I told your mom the same thing when she was younger. Now c'mon go brush your teeth before mommy gets home."

Bruce ran along the buildings away from the apartment, finally stopping to sit on a rooftop, ashamed. He should have visited. He should have quit drinking, though here he is sitting on a rooftop with a bottle in his hand. Throwing his arm back, he guzzles down the bottle.

"Bruce? Are you okay?" A woman asks from behind him, sounding seriously concerned.

Completely seriously, making sure his voice has no hint of sulleness, "Yeah, why would you think otherwise?" He turns to face her with a faux smile on his face.

"For one," she starts, pointing at his face, "you never smile." He tries to interject, but she continues, "And the entire time that I've known you I've only seen you drink once. And that was almost twenty years ago. Back right after Jason died." She walks closer, sitting beside him, letting her feet dangle from the ledge. "Bruce, you can talk to me," she tells him wrapping her arm around him.

"I'm fine Selina," he says, brushing her off.

Her face begins getting fiery, hating the fact that he was trying to shut her out. She grabs his face, making him look at her and announces, "NO YOU'RE NOT! I heard you talking to Gordon, you haven't seen your grandson since he was born."

Bruce's face becomes angry, he stands up and shouts at her, "HOW CAN I GO TO SEE HIM!" His voice becomes quieter, but he's still yelling, "Every time I see that boy, I see Dick! In his eyes, his movements!" A tear slips down Bruce's face as he continues yelling, "It reminds me that I failed him! After Jason… After Jason, I told myself I wouldn't let another son die! And I've lost all of them! I've lost my family!"

"You still have family," she tells him, her voice soft as silk. She stands up and pulls him into her, and that's when she feels the water through her shirt.

"I failed him... I failed them all." He says quietly into her shoulder.

She's never seen Bruce this bad. Not in the almost thirty years she's known him. "Bruce you didn't fail him. You didn't fail any of them."

"Yes I did. I caused it all. I am the reason that Dick died. I'm the reason Clark died. I'm the reason why Damian and Jason left. And I'm the reason Tim is in a coma."

"You're also the reason the world is still alive. You're the reason Damian and Jason had good homes in the first place. You're the reason Gordon is still alive. You're the reason I stopped being a thief," She tells him stressing the word 'you're'. She looks him dead in the eyes and tells him, "You're a hero, not a killer, so stop treating yourself like one."

He stares into her eyes and tells her, "You're wrong though, I am a killer. I killed Clark."

She looks at him confused. She didn't know exactly how Clark died, all she knew was that when he and Bruce went to take down Darkseid, only Bruce got out alive. Shortly after that Bruce turned depressed. But when everyone found out Barbara was pregnant he got better. He was there when she gave birth. And when the baby was named he tried to argue against the baby being named after him. He was happy then. And then Dick died, and the Damian left him, so did Jason, and Tim ended up in a coma. Bruce was officially announced dead shortly after, by the government who found 'remains' of him. That was also when they announced that Bruce and Batman were the same person.

Selina thought Bruce was dead. She went to his funeral. She sat there with Lois and Barbara and Stephanie and Cassandra.

Everyone thought he was dead for a long time. The only way Selina found out he was alive was because Alfred called. Alfred called the close friends of Bruce. He would have called Ollie, but it was thought that Ollie and Hal had died a little bit prior to Bruce.

'Did he really kill Clark?' Selina found herself asking. 'Was that the catalyst? No. He couldn't. He wouldn't.' Selina looked at him and pulled him close again, "It doesn't matter what you did. All that matters is that you're still alive and that you can be there for people now."

"Thank you," Bruce mutters, almost incomprehensibly.

"Anytime," She replies, continuing to hug him.

They stay like that for a little while longer, before they went their separate ways home to sleep. When Bruce gets back to the apartment, he opens up the window quietly and slips in. He steps into the room and stealthily makes his way to his room. Lying down on the hard springy mattress, he falls asleep easily from exhaustion.

He wakes up and looks at the clock beside him, six thirty. Eight o'clock he has to be there for leaving. Walking into the living room he realizes Alfred is awake already. "Morning Alfred," he greets.

"Morning Bruce," Alfred replies, putting down the newspaper in his hands. He gets up and walks over to give Bruce a hug. "You slept well last night."

"Yeah, Selina helped me realize some things," Bruce tells Alfred.

Alfred looks around Bruce towards the bedroom, "Is she hiding from me?"

Bruce's eyes widen, "No, no, no. She's not here."

"You made her leave? Where's your manners, Master Bruce? I thought I raised you better than that," Alfred says picking up his newspaper and jokingly hitting Bruce with it.

Chuckling to himself, Bruce replies, "No, it turns out that they aren't sending me alone for the mission." Alfred noticeably flinches when Bruce says 'mission,' and Bruce puts a hand on the old man's shoulder. "Don't worry, Ollie and Selina are joining me."

"That makes me feel a 'elluva lot better, thank you," Alfred tells him with a hint of sarcasm. Though even though he says it sarcastically, he does feel better knowing that Selina and Ollie will be there. Though, how Ollie is alive, he doesn't know. He'll have to ask another time.

"I know you don't like my decision…" Bruce begins.

Cutting him off, "I do not, but I also know that you need to do this. And I will respect your wishes."

Nodding his head, Bruce replies, "Thank you. And last night I saw Gordon. We talked, and I realized that I need to be in this kid's life. I need to fix my past mistakes."

"Glad you think so, because I am starved and I know for a fact that Mrs. Grayson makes Bruce get up at seven," Alfred says pulling his coat on and grabbing his cane. He walks over to the door and opens it wide, motioning for Bruce to follow.

Bruce stares at him puzzled, "Where are we going?"

"You're pretty damn slow for the world's greatest detective. We are going to go bring bagels in," Alfred tells him walking out the door, not even waiting for Bruce.

Barbara yawns, looking down at her laptop. She looks at the time in the bottom corner, 6:50. She hadn't even realized she stayed up the entire night after she got home. She closes her eyes momentarily.

"You didn't stay up the whole night, did you?" Gordon asks his daughter, walking into the room with a barely awake Bruce.

"I took naps," She defends.

"Honey…" Gordon begins, but is cut off by a knocking at the door of the apartment.

"I'll get it," she says getting up from her seat. She looks through the peephole, and quickly opens the door, hugging the two men standing there.

"Hello Mrs. Grayson, we have brought breakfast," Alfred states, holding up a box of a dozen bagels.

She stares at Bruce, not believing her eyes. "Bruce," she says quietly, once again hugging the man. "I'm so glad you're here." She walks over to the young boy standing by her father and motion towards the Bruce. "Bruce, this is your Grandfather Bruce." And then she points to Alfred, "And that is…"

"You're Great Grandpappy Alfred," Alfred announces walking over to the boy. He gets down on his knee, telling the boy, "I haven't seen you since you were a baby. Many, many years ago."

The young boy looks up at Alfred and then Bruce and asks, "So you're my dad's dad?"

Bruce looks at the young boy who looks so much like Dick and equally as much like Barbara, and answers, "Yes. I loved him very much. You look a lot like him."

"Do you miss him?" The boy asks.

A tear slides down Bruce's face, "Everyday." Bruce gets close to the boy and whispers, "But I know that he's looking down and smiling at you." The boy looks up at 'Grandpa Bruce' and give a toothy grin before hugging him. Barbara looks at the two of them and smiles with a tear in her eye.

Alfred stares at his surrogate son and his grandson and smiles. Smiles about the memories flooding his mind. The memories of Dick trying to make Bruce smile or laugh, sometimes with Wally's assistance. The memories of Dick swinging from the chandelier within the first week of living with Bruce, and Bruce not knowing what to do. And Alfred welcomes the memories happily.


	3. Chapter 3

Bruce has to leave not too long after stopping by, so he can go do the mission. He waves goodbye to his family, and opens the door stepping outside. But before he can close it, the small boy runs up and hugs his leg. "Bye Grandpa Bruce," the boy tells him.

A tear slides down Bruce's face, thinking that maybe he can just stay here and be happy. Maybe he doesn't have to do this mission. Maybe he can finally find the one thing he thought he would never get. The thing he only felt when he was around his children.

But he has to do this. "Bye Bruce, I'll see you soon," Bruce says hugging the boy back. They let go of each other, and the older closes the door behind himself, separating himself from them.

Bruce goes down the stairs and makes his way to the main door. When he opens it, a man inside an old sport car shouts at him, "Lex is gonna be pissed!"

Walking towards the car, Bruce opens the door and gets in. "You were following me?" Bruce asks sounding impressed.

Oliver smiles accomplished, but then the smile fades, "Actually I di... no. Alfred called."

A small smile begins forming on Bruce's face. "And why is Lex going to be 'pissed'?" Bruce asks his old friend.

Oliver sighs. "Because," he says dragging out the word, "we are going to be late." He points at the Bruce's watch. "He said eight. It's eight fifteen right now."

"But he probably expected you to show up late anyway, so he probably meant eight thirty," Bruce explains.

A smirk forms on Oliver's face, "In that case…" He revs the engine and steps on the gas, sending the car flying. The car continues accelerating. Oliver focuses intensely on the driving, swerving around other cars easily. He has the GCPD building in his sights. Pressing a button, the secret entrance opens and he drives through.

Pulling to a stop, the doors open and the two step out. "Mr. Queen, I didn't expect you to be here so early," Lex greets sarcastically, Selina behind him.

"Haha, very funny," Oliver says with even more sarcasm.

"Selina," Bruce greets.

"Bruce," she returns with a smile.

"Anyway," Lex begins, "Now that everyone is here, let's begin with the full briefing." A holographic map pops up. "You will fly out of Gotham and dropped in Indiana, then The Hoodlum Territory, then Penguin Territory, then into League of Assassins Territory, then finally into Joker's Territory."

"I disagree with the plan…" Bruce begins.

"I don't care," Lex tells him.

"Luthor listen to me goddammit! The new Ra's won't let us through that territory. And the Penguin isn't safe bet either. Hoodlum Territory shouldn't be too bad if we go quick. But, instead of League and Penguin I say we cut through Ivy's Territory and Croc's Territory."

Lex laughs, "You'd rather go through a homicidal crocodile's land than Penguin's?"

"Croc won't be hostile unless we are hostile towards him…" Bruce tries to justify.

"My answer is no. That could add another couple of days. So, no. Anyway, once you get into Joker's territory, the boy will be near the remains of The Flash Museum."

"Damn," Ollie interrupts, "Didn't realize Joker's territory was so expansive.

"Yeah," Luthor states looking down in shame, "He took Smallville and Keystone last year. His territory is second larges to only the League of Assassins. Joker's territory spans almost three states now."

"So, we get to the Flash Museum, what do we do next?" Bruce asks.

"Once you get there, you get the boy and take him either back to Indiana, or you take him to Texas where we will pick you up once you cross into Mexico, or final option is to get him to Star City. That is not really suggested, since it's the furthest, but it may be the most safe, we aren't really sure who owns that territory." Lex explains to them, pointing to the spots on the holographic map.

"How are you not sure?" Oliver asks confused.

"Because we lost all of our operatives out there almost a year ago. We've been trying to organize this evac since then."

"How come you can't fly us into Joker's Territory?" Oliver asks.

As if ready for the question, Lex quickly adds, "When they moved out there, Joker found left over military weapons from the War. For example, Anti Aircraft Artillery."

"Oh shit," Ollie mutters.

"Anymore questions?" Lex asks. When no one answers, he states, "Good, now go get in your uniforms."

The three walk over, grabbing their bags and pulling their suits out. Before Bruce can begin putting his on though, Lex interrupts them. "I mean your new suits. Here," He says tossing Bruce an all black suit with a red emblem. He tosses Selina one similar to her original but with more tech, and finally hands Oliver the hand he was promised and a suit closely resembling his other. "Now, get suited up."

Bruce grabs his suit and begins stripping off his clothes so he can put on his costume. As he gets drops his pants, he hears a whistle from behind him. Bruce turns to see Ollie smirking at him. Bruce rolls his eyes and starts slipping into his suit.

When he has the suit on, he pulls the cowl up. The red symbol begins shining, and the white eyes begin glowing. "Damn, you look freaking awesome!" Ollie comments, still not fully dressed.

Oliver starts pulling on his costume. He pulls on his gloves and pulls the hood up, smirking. Lastly, he takes off his old bionic arm, and replacing it with his new animatronic hand that Lex had made for him.

Then Bruce turns around to see that Selina is fully without a top, only wearing the leather pants of her suits. "Close your mouth Bruce or you're going to catch some flies," Selina says, suggestively closing his mouth with her hand as she tells him.

"Damn, how does she still look this good?" Oliver whispers in Bruce's ear. Bruce rolls his eyes underneath the cowl and walks over to Luthor.

"So where's my belt?" Bruce asks Lex.

Lex smirks at the question. He walks over to Bruce and grabs his arm, "Here." Lex presses a button and a batarang shoots out of Bruce's gauntlet. "Like it?" Lex asks.

"It's an interesting addition," Bruce notes, looking at the gauntlet carefully.

Ollie looks on, interested at the addition in Bruce's suit. "Anything special about my suit? Please tell me there's something special about the suit." Lex walks over to Ollie and presses a button on the belt, causing a crossbow to pop out of the leg armor. "Cool!"

"And for you, Selina," Lex begins as he walks over, "I designed your whip so that when you press the button on it, it ignites with energy." He turns his back to the three then his eyes widen as he remembers he forgot something. "I almost forgot, Mr. Queen, your new hand can also shoot a laser out of the palm, however it hasn't been tested yet. Worst case scenario, it could blow up with the strength of 10 sticks of dynamite."

Oliver nods his head in approval, while stroking his goatee, "Sounds worth it to me."

"I'm so glad you think so," Luthor states mockingly. "Anyway, if you are all ready, I would like to be getting going." He starts walking away, and everyone follows him to a jet hanger. They stop in front of a large jet shaped like a bat. "Mr. Wayne, I hope you approve," Lex jokes. When he doesn't receive a response, he presses a button and the jet hatch opens.

They all get aboard the plane and each take their designated seats. Bruce sits next to Lex in the cockpit of the jet, while Oliver and Selina sit towards the back. The jet's hatch closes and Bruce and Lex begin running diagnostics.

The engine starts and the plane begins lifting from the ground. A secret exit opens, and the jet flies through the hole in the cave.

After they had been flying for a couple minutes, Ollie leans over towards Selina, and completely seriously tells her, "I don't know if you know all the shit that Bruce is gonna face on this mission, but you gotta be there for him."

"What do you mean exactly?" She asks him, concern in her voice.

"Do you know how Dick died?" Ollie asks. She shakes her head. He didn't think that she would. Bruce can barely talk about Dick in general, let alone what killed him. "Dick was tortured for several hours, before finally being shot in the head by the Joker on one of his patrols of Joker's territory. Tim was the one who found him. Tim brought Dick back to Bruce. Then on the day of Dick's funeral, Tim went after Joker. He was acting rashly and on emotion.

"Nobody knows exactly what happened," Oliver says as tears slide down his face hidden by the shadow of his hood, "But someone got the drop on Tim. Joker beat Tim with a crowbar like he beat Jason. But he let Tim live. He left Tim's boy for Bruce to find…" Oliver's throat won't produce any sound, and Selina is fully crying by now. "When Bruce found him, he was in a deep coma from brain trauma." Oliver swallows hard.

"Oh my god," is the only thing Selina can get out as the tears stream down her face.

"Than Damian and Jason left, and that was when Bruce started seriously drinking. He drank before he went on patrol, hoping some punk would get lucky. And I couldn't watch him just do that. I tried to get him to stop drinking, but I knew I couldn't do anything. I did the only thing I thought useful. I went on a mission from Waller to assassinate Joker with Wally. We went on the mission. He had a fucking informant," Oliver says with spite. "Joker had motion sensor bombs all over."

Oliver wipes the tears that are now streaming down his eyes too. "It's okay if…" Selina begins.

"No, you need to hear this," Oliver tells her. "A bomb caught me off guard, Wally sped over, but the explosion left him in critical condition with shrapnel embedded in his skin and me without a hand." Running his hand through his hair, looking down to avoid eye contact, he continues, "We were evaced, but due to Wally's damn healing, he was healing the wrong way, plus one of his legs was completely destroyed. Wally barely made it through surgery. He's paralyzed from the neck down." Oliver swallows.

Selina grabs him in a hug, trying to comfort the man. He continues talking as she holds him though, "After that, government set us up with new id's and we were living in NY. Then I heard Bruce died and… and I couldn't take it. Wally was the only reason I kept myself in good health."

"I'm so sorry," Selina tells him quietly, almost incomprehensibly, but he hears her. And they stay hugging for a little while. Then finally they let go.

"Thank you," he tells her, tears still fresh in his eyes.

Selina gives a small smile, "Anytime."


	4. Chapter 4

About an hour and a half later, Lex begins bringing the plane down into the desolate looking town. "This is the farthest I can take you," he tells them. As the plane touches down the hatch opens and they all get up.

One by one, they each walk out of the plane. First Oliver, then Selina, and then Bruce. But before Bruce can exit, Lex grabs his arm, "Bruce, be careful."

Bruce looks Lex in the eyes, seeing the look of a man more broken than himself. "I will, Lex," Bruce responds. Lex lets go of his arm, and Bruce exits the ship. Closing the hatch, Lex walks back to the front of the plane and takes out a bottle of water knowing he has to wait for them.

The air is dry, and the sun is hot. They have to walk a good couple of miles before they reach the border between Indiana and into the Land of Hoodlums. Oliver unsurprisingly is the first to talk, "So, are we getting a car eventually?" No one answers him, so he continues, "I mean, I'm just saying, I really don't want to walk hundreds of miles."

"We are getting a car," Bruce responds. Oliver nods his head slowly, but Bruce ignores him, and they all continue walking.

Another fifteen minutes later, when they are only a third of a mile away, Oliver starts talking again, "So, Selina, what have you been up to?"

She smirks at him. "Oh, you know. Stealing what luxuries remain, while avoiding the government. As you can see, I didn't do too well," she says giving a small smile. "On top of that I also tried finding the remaining heroes." She looks over to see Bruce's expression before continuing. "Some Titans are still operating up in Boston. Zatanna is doing magic shows for children, when she isn't helping rebuilding. Hawkman is down in Georgia. Captain Atom is working for Luthor. Some others around too."

"We're here," Bruce announces stopping her from talking any more. He walks over to the large electric fence, dividing the two areas. He presses a button and the gate opens up. He steps through the entrance and the other two follow him. After they all enter, the gate closes after them.

Oliver looks around as they start walking, "Sooooo… this is The Land of Hoodlums?" Bruce nods his head as they continue walking. Oliver bobs his head as he continues walking.

They walk past the quiet abandoned buildings. "I don't like this," Selina announces. She looks to the side and sees a glint in the window. "Shit," she mutters, "HIT THE GROUND!" The three of them dive for cover as a shot rings out, shattering the glass of the window.

Bruce pulls his cowl up that he pulled down while he was flying, and pops out from cover. He sees the shooter and presses the button on his sleeve, sending a batarang flying.

The batarang collides with the gun, and Bruce charges after the shooter, diving through the window. He picks up the shooter by the collar of his shirt, but before he hits him, he hears the a gun's safety click off.

Slowly turning around, he sees two more men aiming pistols at him. "DROP HIM!" One of the men shouts. Bruce lets go of the man's shirt, dropping him to the ground. "Good, now turn around!" Bruce slowly turns, then…

Two arrow whiz past his head, pinning the gunmen to the wall. Oliver and Selina walk inside the building. "Uh, you're welcome," Oliver tells him, going over to talk to the gunmen. "So, who's your boss?" The men don't say anything. "Okay, where's your boss?" The two gunmen look at each other, then look behind Oliver and past Selina and Bruce. Oliver turns and announces, "Well shit."

A man in jeans wearing a red sleeveless shirt walks over. Oliver looks the man up and down, eying the man's face. He has the same red hair, and now is sporting a goatee. He opens his arms and walks over, tightly hugging the man. "Roy."

Roy hugs Oliver back, "Good to see you too, Ollie."

Oliver and him stop hugging and Oliver looks at his former protege. Oliver scrunches his brows and shouts, "YOU ALWAYS TOLD ME THE GOATEE WAS STUPID!"

Roy smirks at his mentor and tells him, "It is stupid… On you." Oliver laughs at Roy and throws his arm around his shoulder, as old friends do.

"So you run this place?" Oliver asks.

Roy shakes his head, "Nope. I'm just a lieutenant, I'm not the leader here. Though these dumbasses still take orders from me."

"Then who is?" Oliver asks. Selina laughs in the background, but Oliver ignores her, as Roy motions for them to follow. He leads them into a small building, and enters a code into a small touch pad. A secret entrance opens, leading to an underground hideout.

He walks down the stairs leading to a dark hallway. Roy begins walking down the hallway, and as he does, lights begin illuminating the hallway. Finally, they get to the end of the hallway, where a door lies. "In there you'll find the leader," Roy tells them, before walking off.

Wiggling the handle of the door, he opens the door. The room inside floods his vision with bright light. Oliver looks at the back of a man's head sitting down. He sees a leather jacket and jeans. He sees dark hair.

The man gets up, and he almost doesn't recognize him. Oliver gasps. "What?" Selina asks sarcastically. "You can't honestly be surprised, it's called 'Hoodlum Land'."

Oliver stares at the man as it makes sense. "You're right that does make sense. But anyway, what is up with you guys. First Roy, now you. Why do all of you have beards? I mean like seriously, everyone hated my beard and made fun of it. But now it's suddenly cool?" Ollie asks.

The man looks over past Ollie. "Bruce," he greets.

"Jason," Bruce exhales. Jason walks over to his father figure and just stands before him. He offers his hand out, and Bruce pulls him in for a hug.

"Sheesh, don't get sentimental on me now, Old man." Jason whispers jokingly.

They let go of each other, and Bruce looks his son in the eyes. "It's been too long," Bruce tells him.

"Yes it has," Jason agrees, walking over to go pour himself and his guests a drink. "So what brings you around here? You come to see him?" Jason asks offering everyone a glass of wine. Oliver accepts, while Selina declines.

He goes to offer Bruce the glass, but Bruce's expression turns serious. He stares Jason in the eyes with a fierce look as he tells him, "I've come to kill the Joker."

Jason's expression turns to shock, as his stance completely changes. "Wait, what?" He asks, not believing he heard Bruce correctly.

Oliver walks over, "What he means, is that we are rescuing a kid for Luthor that is in Joker's Territory."

Bruce interjects, "No, what I mean is that I'm going to kill Joker." He grabs the drink that Jason offered him earlier and sips it.

Jason puts a hand on Bruce's shoulder and tells him, "You can't break your rule."

Bruce shakes Jason's hand off and turns around. He looks at Jason looking more broken then Jason thought, and responds, "In case you've forgotten, I've killed before!"

Jason shakes his head. "No you haven't. Not like this. You've never killed in cold blood like this before. When you kill a person in cold blood you change. Trust me, I know," Jason tells him. He walks over to the liquor cabinet and pours something stronger.

"Well you don't know me, anymore!" Bruce shouts at Jason.

Jason chuckles, downing his drink. "You think I don't know you? You haven't changed at your core. You're still the same man who gave me food and a home after I tried to steal the tires off the Batmobile. Still the same man who forgave me and welcomed me back into the family, even after all the shit I put you through. You're the greatest man I've ever known," Jason tells him.

Bruce's scowl turns somber. "How can you even say that? I wasn't able to keep the family together. I didn't visit you after the whole ordeal. I didn't even come to see him," Bruce says.

Jason swallows hard, "Do you want to see him now?" Bruce runs his hand through his hair and nods. "Follow me," Jason tells him, leading him out of the room. Oliver goes to follow, but Selina stops him.

Bruce is led into a different hallway with several different rooms along the way. "It's the last one on the right," Jason tells him, pointing to the red door. Bruce nods and begins walking off toward it.

Opening the door, the first thing he sees is a woman with blonde hair asleep in the chair next to him. He quietly closes the door and walks over closer. "Tim," he says under his breath, looking at his comatose son.

He's staring at Tim so intensely that he almost doesn't realize the blonde, start waking from her seat. Turning, he sees her get up. "BRUCE!" She screams, running over and hugging her mentor. She begins crying as she hugs him, "I missed you."

He continues hugging her, and whispers, "I missed you too, Stephanie." He stops hugging her, but he still holds her in fatherly fashion. "How's he been doing?"

She wipes the tears from her eyes, "Pretty well actually. He's looking like he might wake up some day."

Bruce offers a small smile, "Hopefully soon." He looks over at the tears building up in her eyes, "I know," he says pulling her in a hug again, "I miss him too." He looks down at her hand, at the engagement ring that hasn't left her finger since he gave it to her, and he feels tears in his eyes too.

And they both stay hugging each other, tears in their eyes. That is until, Jason knocks on the door. Jason walks in and Bruce tells him, "Thank you, for keeping him safe."

"It's the least I can do for Tim after all the shit I did to him back then. Besides, he's my little brother, it's my responsibility. That's what Dick would tell me anyway," Jason says cracking a smile, reminiscing. Steph smile too at the memories, even Bruce does. "Besides, who else am I supposed to argue with. I'm just waiting for him to wake up, so I can kick his ass for doing that in the first place!" Jason chuckles.

"You're not going to stop me from going to Joker's Territory, you know that right?" Bruce asks Jason.

Jason nods his head, but Stephanie shouts, "What? You are not going there!"

Patting her back, Jason tells her, "Don't worry Steph. He's not going alone. He has Oliver and Selina. Besides, I'm going too. You can even be in charge while I'm gone. Just let Roy think he's in charge. Though if he actually is in charge that could end disastrously…" Jason rambles on.

"You're not coming," Bruce tells Jason, sternly.

Jason laughs, "Like you telling me that has ever stopped me." Jason gets up and cracks his knuckles, opening the door and exiting with Bruce following behind.

They get over to the main area, where Oliver and Selina are sitting, patiently waiting for Bruce to join them. Walking over to his team, Jason tells them, "Just letting you both know, but I will be joining you for the rest of your mission." He smirks and begins walking away.

Staying only a few steps behind him, the group follows him to a garage with an old fashioned Batmobile that looks like it hasn't been used in years.

He blows the dust off of the old car. "I always wondered where this went," Bruce comments nostalgically, walking over and running his hand over the car. Pressing a button, the car unlocks, and Bruce gets into the vehicle, slowly placing his hands on the wheel. Starting the ignition, the car roars and a small smile slips onto Bruce's face. "I haven't driven this since back when you were Robin," he says looking at Jason.

Jason smiles at his old mentor, reminiscing on the old days before he died at the hands of the Joker. "Okay, so this seats 4," Oliver comments.

"Yeah, I'm taking my motorcycle," Jason explains. He walks over to a tarped opect, ripping it off to reveal a red and black motorcycle with a red helmet sitting on top of the seat. Placing the helmet on his head, he gets on the bike, revving the engine.

With the press of a button, a platform rises and the ceiling opens up, allowing for exit. Before they drive away, Roy runs into the room shouting, "Where are you going?"

Jason smiles from behind his Red Hood helmet and tells him, "I'm going to go help out Bruce, I'll be back in a week or so. Until then, you're in charge."

Roy watches as The Batmobile and Jason ride off into the dry night. "So what he really means is Steph is in charge," Roy mutters walking back to the main area of their base.

Out in the star filled night, the team begins crossing into a brightly lit city that looks more like Vegas than a dystopian wasteland. The buildings aren't as tall as the cities that weren't destroyed, but Penguin did a good job rebuilding.

Looking out the window, they spot Penguin's new 'Iceberg Lounge', complete with the bright lights and insane architecture. It's almost identical to the one he had in Gotham. Over the speaker in the Batmobile, Jason's voice booms, "Hey guys, I was thinking we could go hit the Iceberg Lounge and get some materials from Ozzy."

Speaking into the comm in the Batmobile, Bruce replies, "Fine." Jason turns left and Bruce follows his path, as they head toward the Iceberg Lounge.

They park right in front of the main entrance, and Jason throws open the doors. "OSWALD!" Looking up onto the balcony he sees the short, plump man's eyes widen at the sight of Jason. Jason walks up the glass stairs to Penguin, grabbing a drink off a tray and holding it for no particular reason.

When he reaches Oswald, he takes his helmet off and places it on Penguin's table. He throws his drink back, downing the entire thing. "How's it going Ozzy?"

"What the 'ell you doing in my bloody club?" Penguin asks Jason aggravated.

"That anyway to treat your guests?" An amused archer asks, as he walks up the stairs to join Jason and Penguin. "How long has it been Oswald?" Oliver asks.

Penguin narrows his eyes at the two standing in front of him in aggravation, but his eyes widen in fear, at the sight of the Bat and the Cat. "Selina!" He greets nervously. She walks over to him, and suggestively drags her claw on the table, creating a screeching sound.

"How'd it been Oswald?" She asks with her signature provocative voice.

Swallowing hard, he answers, "As well as it could be. Why are you honoring me wit your presence?"

Chuckling Jason responds, "It's simple, we need a few things."

"Done." Penguin responds quickly. "What do you need?" He asks willing to give them anything, so long as it gets them to leave.

Smirking, Jason replies, "Simple. I need a sniper rifle with a lot of ammo for that. I also need an assault rifle with a lot of ammo as well. Also I need a semi automatic handgun please." Penguin nods and walks away to the back of the club.

Oliver sits down at the table, and grabs a glass of champagne, sipping the drink, remembering when he used to do this daily. He throws his feet up on the table as he's given a second glass.

A few minutes later, Penguin returns with several men carrying crates. "This is all that you asked for, along with something extra you might need." Oliver stands up and walks over, checking the crates, as does Bruce, though less easily than it would if he had some sleep. When they determine that there aren't any tricks, they bring the crates outside to the car.

"Thank you very much, Oswald," Jason tells him, patting him on the back. He puts his helmet on and heads for the door.

Swinging open the door, he walks over to the group. "So you came here for guns?" Bruce asks him with anger and tiredness in his voice.

Rolling his eyes, Jason responds, "We are going to Jokerland, so I will need some weapons. And I doubt the League of Assassins are going to be nice when we get there, especially considering their leader."

Bruce sighs, and walks over to the Batmobile. "Bruce, don't you dare get behind that wheel," Oliver commands, "I'll drive."

Narrowing his eyes, Bruce tells them, "I'm fine."

"You need sleep Bruce," Oliver tells him kindly.

"I said I'm fine."

"Bruce, please…" Selina begs. Bruce seems thrown off by the word choice, and stumbles to the back.

As Oliver drives through the brightly lit city, Bruce drifts to sleep in the back seat and he starts seeing the horrors of his past.

The four of them look up at the giant ship they are flying toward. Bruce fiddles with the extra holster attached to his utility belt, that he hopes to god he won't have to use. He looks beside him at J'onn J'onzz, John Stewart, and Hal Jordan, all completely serious.

They get to the giant ship shooting out the laser that's destroying the world, and get inside forcefully. "You go get Clark! We'll distract them!" Hal shouts as parademons start flying at them.

Bruce takes out several batarangs, flinging them at his opponents, getting past them. He dodges more as they come, looking at the small grid on his gauntlet. Taking a sharp left down a long hallway. Then a right.

Finally he comes across an enclosed chamber labeled in Apokalyptian language. Placing several explosives carefully, he presses a trigger and the door is blown off. In the center of the room is Clark strapped to a table, life being sucked out of him. At the same time though, thanks to the sun shining directly at him, he is gaining it. This is worse than Bruce had thought, they are using Clark to power the laser that's being used to destroy earth.

"Bruce?" Clark asks weakly.

Bruce nods, "I'm here Clark, I'm going to get you out of here."

With a dry voice, Clark tells him, "You can't, it won't let me go until I die, which won't be for awhile. And when I do die, it'll replace me with Kara." Clark motions with his head, to Supergirl in a kryptonite room

"I'll go get Kara out," Bruce tells him, walking over to the cage she's being kept in. He tries hacking into the machine, but it inturn just fried his computer. "DAMMIT!" Bruce shouts pounding his hand on the door. He throws the remaining explosives on the door, hoping it'll work, but the door just absorbs the blast..

Kara looks up through the door, but is too weak to say anything.

"Bruce…" Clark begs, causing Bruce to turn to face his friend. "PLEASE, DO IT!"

Bruce pulls down his mask, as a tear slips past his eye. "I can't Clark."

"YOU HAVE TO!" Clark says as his body becomes thinner and thinner, the energy and life sucked from him. "You have to kill me." His body is rejuvenated by the sun only to be drained of energy by the machine.

"I can't Clark," Bruce says at barely a whisper. "I won't!"

Clark's facial structure becomes more defined at all the life is sucked from it. "You know that this is the only way…"

Bruce looks down at the gun holstered at his side. Taking the gun out, he turns the safety off. He puts the gun to Clark's chest slowly. A few more tears slide down Bruce's face. "I'm sorry," he whispers as he pulls the trigger.

The bullet through the heart, combined with the draining of his life from the machine, makes regeneration impossible, and Bruce knows that, but he hopes. He knows he's being selfish, that he should hope that it works, but he doesn't.

When Clark's heart stops beating, the machine releases him, and the door to Kara's cell opens. Crawling out, she makes her way to Bruce, "They're gonna hook me up to that next."

Bruce swallows as more tears fall, "No, I won't let them."

Looking up at the older man she tells him, "Use the opportunity... Reroute the power… Use me to make it self destruct…" She tries to remain strong as she tells him, "Reroute the current to the ship's power source making it overload and explode… Then we can take out this station and Darkseid."

Breathing heavily, Bruce shakes his head. "I already killed your cousin, I won't kill you."

"Please," She begs, "Don't let Kal's sacrifice be in vain. He pulls her head into his chest, wishing he didn't have to.

He nods, and walks over to the computer, typing in commands, and eventually rerouting where the energy went. Lifting Kara, helping her to the machine, he tells her, "I'm so sorry."

Watching as she slowly gains and loses her energy, he turns his back and announces into his comm, "It's time to go."

They regroup and Hal asks, "Where's Clark?" Bruce just avoids eye contact and shakes his head. Hal's eyes widen, "No…"

"C'mon," Bruce says with no motivation whatsoever. Hal and John form a bubble around them, and they fly everyone away from the ship, before they get too far, the ship blows up. Causing everyone to just stare at what was once there.

And then Bruce wakes up sweating in the backseat. His heavy breathing catches the attention of Oliver and Selina. "You okay?" she asks worry evident in her soft tone.

Slowing his breathing, he answers, "Yeah…"

"What was it about?" She asks concerned.

Bruce looks down in disgrace, "The night that I killed Clark." Oliver's eyes widen, and he turns his head to look at Bruce.

Before he has the chance to ask about what he just said, Jason's voice comes on the car's comm, "Guys, we're almost in League territory. I advise showing caution."

"Will do," Oliver tells him, still eying Bruce.

 **"** **I'm fine," Bruce says, and they're not sure who he's trying to convince, them, or himself.**


	5. Chapter 5

The car continues driving through the Penguin's territory, until the bright, flashing lights are put behind them. As they cross into the new territory, they cautiously check their surroundings. They see all of the fallen destroyed buildings that no one has attempted to rebuild. Such an unusual change from Penguin's area where everything is rebuilt.

Jason looks around thinking about all the life that once was here, life that was here no more. He sighs away the thoughts and looks for any signs of trouble. As he begins doing this, a sword comes flying at him. He quickly backflips off of the bike and narrowly dodges the sword.

With a press of a button on the side of his helmet, he announces, "Guys, we have some company!" He reaches for his holster, and loads his pistol. "Come out you son of a bitch!" He screams at the assassin.

Another sword flies at him, and he catches it. However, as he catches it the assassin attacks, delivering an elbow to his temple. Disoriented, Jason takes a swing which misses. The assassin strikes Jason in the ribs. "Fuck," he mutters.

Patiently, Jason waits for the next swing. The slight change in the assassin's stance alerts Jason to the next strike. And with masterful execution, Jason counters the assassin's attack, flipping the man on his back. Reaching into his boot, Jason pulls out a knife and presses it to the assassin's throat. "Tell that son of a bitch boss of yours, to go straight to hell!" Jason commands.

He's about to continue when he hears Bruce from behind him shout, "Let him go Jason."

Jason exhales dramatically and rolls his eyes, walking to where Bruce, Oliver and Selina are all standing. "I wasn't going to kill him, I was giving him a message for…" Jason explains as he turns around to see the assassin is gone. With a smirk he tells them, "Now he'll get our message."

"WHO?" Oliver shouts hating that he knows less and less as the mission progresses.

"Unimportant," Bruce declares before Jason can answer, "We have to get going before Ra's finds us." Everyone nods and gets back in their vehicles.

Before they can even start their vehicles, they see shurikens and throwing knives flying at them. "You gotta be shitting me," Jason mutters. He dives off of his bike, taking cover behind the Batmobile.

"Whatever your message was, must've pissed the guy off!" Oliver yells at Jason as the other three exit the Batmobile and take cover with Jason, while he provides cover fire for them.

A shuriken flies at Jason's face, which he catches and immediately throws back, so that he can't be sucker punched again. "Let's see how they like this…" Jason says as he takes out a grenade and throws it where the most shurikens are coming from.

The explosion rocks the ground and knocks a few of the assassins off their feet. In their moment of confusion, Jason and Oliver stand up and start firing at them. Jason's first shot lodges itself in the brain of an assassin, his second through the heart of a different assassin.

Oliver fires almost as quick as Jason does, arrow after arrow hitting its target. His first goes into an assassin's collarbone. The second gets stuck in one of the killer's arm. "Time to try out Luthor's trick arrows," he says with a grin. He pulls out an arrow with a fire icon on it and shoots it at a group of assassins.

Before it hits the assassin's it ignites, lighting several of them on fire. "What is this a competition?" Jason questions.

"Please, like you could keep up," Oliver provokes.

Jumping onto the Batmobile, Jason pulls out a second pistol and simultaneously shoots several men. "Try me," Jason tells him with a smirk.

"Quit the games and end this!" Bruce tells them.

In between shots, Jason mocks, "Oh I'm sorry Mr. High and Mighty, but if you want it done so bad, THEN WHY THE FUCK AREN'T YOU HELPING?"

Bruce stands and charges at several men. Grabbing one of them, he swings using his momentum, kicking another, and throwing the one he grabbed. Continuing to run, he jumps up, punching one of them in the throat, then elbowing the guy in the ribs. He shoots a batarang out of his suit at another.

Behind him, Selina charges as well, using her whip to wrap around an assassin's legs. She pulls, knocking the assassin over, then strikes another with her whip.

As more and more assassins show up, the four are forced to a single area, where they stand back to back. "I'm almost out of ammo," Jason announces.

"And I'm running low on arrows," Oliver states.

"Let's do it the old fashioned way then," Jason tells Oliver with a smile. Both of them unsheath knives and prepare to fight.

Before a fight commences though, a voice announces, "STOP!" The assassins clear a path and a single man in a dark robe walks forward. Keeping his head down, he pulls the hood off to reveal his identity. He pulls off the hood to reveal Ra's Al Ghul. But not the Ra's that Oliver or Selina is familiar with, no, a new Ra's. "What are you doing here?" He asks, still not looking up.

Taking off his helmet, Jason mocks, "Not much, Demon spawn. How about you?" At the insult, the man looks up for the first time to reveal bright blue eyes and the face of a younger man.

"I wasn't addressing you, Todd. Father, what the hell are you doing here?" The man asks, pulling out his sword and putting it to Bruce's throat.

Bruce's eyes narrow as he looks down his son, "Move Damian, or be moved." The two stare down each other, neither looking as if they would so much as blink.

Finally, Damian lowers the sword and asks Bruce again, "What are you doing in League territory, Father?"

Bruce moves past his son and replies, "I don't have to answer to you. And you gave up your right as my son the day you left me for the League of Assassins."

"I gave up my right? You're the one who barely talked to me after his death. You didn't say a word. And you say that I gave up my right?" Damian questions.

"Don't give me this shit," Bruce snarls. "You were out the damn door before Dick's funeral. You left Alfred, Jason and me… and Tim," Bruce chokes out his name.

"You probably didn't even know he was in a fucking coma, did you?" Jason asks, Damian turns away to hide his face and his emotions which he had been concealing ever since Dick's death. "He left and tried to avenge Dick's death, and he got put in a fucking coma!" Jason screams, tears start streaming down his face. "And what the fuck were you doing? Training to be some assassin!? You left us!"

"What and you're any better, Todd?" Damian questions, his face red with pent up anger. "You moved out here not too long after I did. And you're leading a group of killers as well, so don't act like you're any better."

Jason walks right up to Damian and gets up in his face, and Damian looks down so they're looking each other in the eyes. "I left so I could go get Tim, and at least I told Bruce and Alfred I was leaving. I said goodbye! And my group of 'killers' were kids who survived out here that were left with no parents. And yeah I trained them to be able to save their asses, cause we're livin' in a world infested with supervillains, and murderers, and rapists!"

Damian's eyes soften ever so slightly. "Is Tim okay?" He asks uncharacteristically using Tim's first name.

"Like you care," Jason remarks, brushing him off.

"I DO!" Damian shouts at him, forcing Jason to still look at him. "Of course I do… you're all my family."

"He's gotten better, but he's still in a coma, I just wish I could've gotten there before…" Jason turns away and wipes his face. He gulps. "Before it happened," he says putting on his helmet.

"I'm sorry," Damian tells him sincerely, avoiding any eye contact. "I really am…"

Jason's face softens, "I know…" And then there is silence for a moment. A moment where everyone feels content with each other.

"We are going into Joker's territory," Jason tells him finally. "Those three were given a mission," he says pointing at Bruce, Selina, and Ollie, "to go retrieve some kid for Luthor. So, I've come to set some things straight with Joker."

Damian nods, "I wish you good luck. If I could come I would, but I have a responsibility to the League. I can spare some of my men, if you wish?"

Bruce cuts in quickly, "Thank you for the offer, but I think we'll be fine."

Nodding, Damian tells him, "I understand. And I'm sorry about Drake. And I'm sorry that I haven't come to see you, or Alfred. Tell him I say hi when you get back." Damian offers his hand out for Bruce to shake.

Accepting the hand, Bruce tells him, "Thank you. And I'll tell him, he'll be glad to hear from you." Pulling his hand, Bruce pulls his son in for a hug, "Goodbye."

Damian feels uncertain, but gives into the embrace telling Bruce, "Goodbye, Father."

The two let go of each other and Damian announces to his assassins, "Men, women, let them through." Then he walks up to one of the members, "Please show them the quickest path into the Joker's territory." The member nods their head and without any words turns toward Bruce, Ollie, Selina, and Jason, and motions for them to follow.

Jason hops onto his bike, and Bruce gets into the driver's seat of the Batmobile while Selina gets in the passenger side. Ollie hops in and unhappily gets in the backseat. Damian's assassin goes into a building and drives out through a tarp, on a motorcycle.

The engines rev and everyone takes off to uncertainty.

Midway through the ride, Selina looks over at Bruce to see his eyes staring intensely at the road, undoubtedly thinking of what he would do to the Joker once he saw him. "Bruce," she starts, "are you sure you want to go through with killing him?"

Bruce looks at her taken aback by her question. "After all that he's done? Why wouldn't I? How could I not, if I have the chance?"

"You've had the chance before."

"That was before he did all this," Bruce tells her focussing on the road once more. "Before he killed Dick and then put Tim in a coma. He destroyed my family. I should've done it before he killed Jason. Before he paralyzed Barbara. Before he caused so much pain!"

Selina forces him to look at her as she tells him, "You didn't do it because you're better than him. You don't have to stoop to his level to beat him."

"But if that were true, then why the hell has Jason and Dick both died at his hands? Why is Barbara paralyzed and Tim in a coma. And even though Jason came back, he's still psychologically traumatized. None of that would have happened if I had ended him back when he started."

"None of that is on you," She tries to convince him.

Bruce tilts his head, "All of it is on me. I'm the reason why all of that happened. He's beyond saving. And I've gone out of my way to save him before." Sighing he says, "When Jason came back, and he wanted revenge, I saved that scum. I stopped Jason from doing what I was too afraid to."

"It's not that you were afraid, it was that you were strong enough not to. You had the strength to not cross that line."

Shaking his head, "That's what I used to tell myself, but that's a lie. It's not that I was I strong enough NOT to. It was that I was too afraid TO do it. And now that I've already crossed that line, I'll more than gladly do it again for him."

"It's different when you do it in cold blood," Selina tells him.

"That's what Jason told me, but it's a long time coming for that maniac. And nobody else has done it yet, so I will. That's final," Bruce tells her.

Selina crosses her arms and huffs. All the while, Ollie has been watching in the backseat the entire time. "I feel like a kid watching mommy and daddy arguing," he mutters.

Sometime later, Jason announces over the comm, "This assassin lady told me that we are almost there. Just a heads up to prepare for gun fire. Lots and lots of gunfire. Plus there'll probably be explosions."

Pressing a button on the Batmobile, Bruce responds, "Okay, Jason, maintain radio silence from here on out, just incase."

"Understood," Jason replies. He continues driving, following the assassin on the motorbike ahead of him.

She takes a quick turn and stops abruptly. "This is the furthest I will go. He'll see you as soon as you go over this hill," she says pointing. "I wish you luck." Jason nods affirmation, and the assassin drives away back to the League's camp.

Seeing that Jason has stopped, Bruce pulls over and opens the hatch. "She says that it's right over the hill. She also said that as soon as we crossed they'll see us," Jason explains.

"If they're gonna see us anyway, no need to try to be stealth. I say we go crazy," Oliver says with a smirk.

"Agreed," Jason announces, looking over to Bruce and Selina for input. Both nod. "Okay, let's do this."

Revving his engine, Jason goes full speed over the hill, launching his bike up into the air, and over the fence that Joker has set up. The Batmobile isn't far behind, but doesn't get as much air, and crashes through the fence.

As soon as they get to the other side, men from all sides open fire at them. Jason dives off his bike, and quickly takes out his pistol and fires, taking out several henchmen. Landing behind the Batmobile.

With the press of a button, Bruce disperses out smoke pellets from the front of the Batmobile, engulfing the area in a fog. Bruce presses a button on his cowl turning on heat sensors, as do Selina and Oliver. And then he launches himself out of the vehicle.

Flying out at great speed, he sees the heat signatures of his enemies, shooting batarangs from his gauntlets at them to disarm them. He flies at one and kicks the man in the face, knocking him over. One aimlessly charges at him, he maneuvers out of the way, breaking the man's elbow in the process.

Selina pulls out her whip and strikes at the unsuspecting men. She hits one across the back, then flips over him using his shoulders, and throws the man at another. She swings the whip across the ground, wrapping it around a man's feet, and then swinging that man around the ground.

Notching his arrow in the bow, Oliver fires a boxing glove arrow, hitting one of the men in the face. As the smoke become less evident, henchmen begin being able to see them, and attacks Oliver. The man tries to use his bat to hit Oliver over the head, but Oliver brings up his bow to protect his face, then knees the man in stomach, and throws him.

Jason comes out from behind the Batmobile and puts his gun away. He takes out his knife and runs at a man. Jumping up, he knocks over someone, performs a roll, and as he is getting up stabs someone in the stomach. He pulls out the knife, and seeing someone advance on Bruce, he throws it, lodging it in the man's skull. Quickly he runs over and pulls the knife out, stabbing someone else.

Selina meanwhile, is being surrounded by five men. She quickly swipes at one of them with her leg, knocking the person over. As she gets up, she cracks her whip, causing the men to back up, and giving her more space. She wraps her whip around one of the men's arms, and pulls him closer, then claws at his face.

The last three prepare to attack together, when Bruce comes behind them, and throws one of them. Selina and Bruce go back to back as more men surround them. "Just like old times," Selina tells him seductively with a grin.

Two men charge in Bruce's direction. He throws one up in the air, and Selina uses her whip to quickly bring the man down and kick him. The other throws a flurry of punches, which Bruce easily dodges. When there is an opening, Bruce delivers an uppercut, knocking the man out.

While Selina and Bruce face a horde, Oliver and Jason have gone back to back as well. "You know, I'm more used to being back to back with a different archer!" Jason exclaims.

"Hope I'm a worthy replacement!" Oliver jokes, as he punches a man across the face.

"Definitely," Jason tells him as he stabs another man in the chest. He pulls out his gun and fires at a man in the chest at point blank range. He shoots another who was approaching.

Oliver reaches for another arrow and realizes he only has two left in his quiver, while the rest are in the Batmobile. "I'm running low on arrows, can I borrow that for a minute?"

"Be my guest," Jason announces as he throws the gun over his head to Oliver. Oliver aims at a sniper on a roof, and fires, hitting the man in the head. Seeing a glint from a window, Ollie moves and hits another sniper. "Didn't realize you were good with all projectiles."

Smirking, Oliver tells him, "I'm okay…" He hears someone approaching Jason and quickly turns, shooting the man in the chest.

"You're being modest," Jason tells him, as Oliver hands the gun back. Jason changes clips and prepares for more men, but none come.

Bruce and Selina walk over to the two. "Is it just me, or did that seem too easy?" Selina asks.

"No, it was definitely too easy. There must be… son of a bitch, they have a rocket launcher. MOVE!" Jason screams as they all run for cover as the explosive is fired.

The rocket explodes as it makes contact with the ground, causing debris to fly all over. Luckily, they all got behind the Batmobile, and didn't suffer any serious injuries. "Oliver, get him while he's reloading," Bruce orders.

Oliver pops up from his spot and fires three times, but quickly pops back down. "Guys, I was able to take out three of them, but I saw two more coming and I'm out. The remainder of my arrows are in the trunk."

Bruce nods, "We'll give you cover fire."

Launching himself off of the Batmobile, Bruce fires several batarangs in several different directions. Jason dives over the car as well and fires four shots at the rocket launchers. Selina dives as well and begins starting to scale the building to get to the men.

However, despite their efforts, one of the rocket launchers gets off a shot. Luckily though, due to the batarangs and bullets, it wasn't a clear shot, but it was still close enough. The explosion hits near Oliver, and the heat burns the animatronic arm that was given to him by Lex. Plus the explosion knocked him into the car, making him hit his head.

In the moment that it takes the would be killer reload, Jason fires quickly, hitting the man in the forehead.

"I can't believe it! The Batman is back and with one of his former Robins. Dying once wasn't enough for you Jason? HAHAHAHAHAHA!" The Joker shouts into a megaphone from atop a different building. "So you're not only sacrificing another Robin, you're sacrificing one that's already died at my hands? Heh, it's kinda smart," He says starting to laugh.

"That son of a bitch," Jason mutter aiming his gun at the target who is clearly way too far away for him to hit. He fires off three rounds, not intending any of them to hit him, but why the hell not?

"Always the charming one," Joker laughs. "Anyway, as much as I would love to chat, I kind of can't right now, so bye." He presses a trigger, and announces, "There are innocent people inside those buildings. In twenty minutes they will blow up. Have fun." And then he turns his back and disappears.

Walking back over from Oliver, Bruce tells them, "Don't worry, he's only unconscious. We'll have to go save those people without him, though." He turns his back and looks at the three apartment buildings. "Okay, split up, I'll take the first. Jason, you take the second. Selina takes the third. Go!" Bruce orders.

The three of them run toward the three different buildings. Jason is the first person to reach his building, "HELLO! ANYONE IN HERE?" He waits for a response but doesn't get one. He starts kicking down doors, but doesn't find anyone. Heading up the stairs, and begins checking the next level.

Meanwhile, Bruce just kicked in the front door to his building. He presses a button on his cowl scanning for any heat signatures. He sees none on the first floor, so he ascends the stairs. He doesn't see any on the second floor.

"Guys," Selina tells them over the comms, "I found the people in my building! They're all on the top floor!" She looks over the bruised bodies lying on the ground, bound at the hands and feet, with duct tape over their mouths. She also notices their legs are particularly bloodied and bruised.

Jason reaches the final floor and kicks down the door, "I see them. Fuck. Are your guys' legs broken too?"

"Yeah," Bruce mutters as he turns off the heat sensor in his cowl, and looks at the men and women lying on the floor. "We still have a good amount of time left, we should be able to get them out," Bruce encourages as he grabs two of the men and uses himself as a crutch to get them out. "Hold on," Bruce tells them, as he uses his grappling hook to get to the bottom.

Sighing, Jason responds, "Okay." He grabs two men and begins jumping down the stairs with them.

Selina grabs a man and a woman, and shatters the window of the floor. Using her whip to attach to the roof, she jumps out the window with the man and woman.

All of them head back upstairs to bring the next round of people outside of the building. All of them bring down two more of the men and women on the top level. Then they repeat.

By the time they get all the men and women out, they still have a minute and a half left and Oliver has woken up by now.. As they all stand a safe distance away and catch their breath, Jason asks, "Did you guys see anything in there that looked like it could take down the building?"

Selina thinks on it for a moment and decides, "No, did you?"

"This isn't good," Jason mutters as he runs over to the hostages, searching them.

"What?" Selina asks.

Frantically searching, Jason responds, "Think about how Joker chose his words. He said 'there are people in those buildings. In twenty minutes they will blow up.' We assumed he meant the buildings, but what if he meant the hostages." Jason continues searching, as Bruce, Selina, and Ollie rush over to help look.

As they try to find the bombs they hear a loud beep, and then the hostages brains are everywhere. Blood covers everything around them, from the ground, to the Batmobile.

Everyone closes their eyes to hide the sight of the horrific massacre. "He's gonna pay," Bruce mutters.

"How the fuck did he hide the bombs?" Jason asks aggravatedly, as they clean the bodies, and themselves off. Bruce pulls off his cowl, turning away from the sight.

"He used Waller's nanobombs, from the days of the Suicide Squad," Bruce says. "I can't believe I WAS SO STUPID!" He shouts, slamming his hand against the car.

Selina puts her hand on his shoulder, "Bruce, he fooled all of us…"

"Yes, but I dealt with him for years! I should've known that was something he would've done!" He continues shouting, but not as loud.

Taking off his helmet, Jason responds, "You're not the only one who dealt with him for all that time. Those people are on all of us! Not just you!" Jason looks Bruce in the eye, "And don't think he doesn't expect you to react this way. He wants you unfocused…"

"And that's where he's wrong," Bruce says pulling up his cowl, "No I'm more focused and more pissed off." He turns to them, "Stock up, Joker isn't going down without a fight."

Oliver looks at Bruce, "I know you're pissed and have a vendetta and all, but we still have a mission."

"I know, but that boy won't be the only person we free today," Bruce tells him. Oliver nods and opens the trunk of the Batmobile, revealing more arrows and all of the guns Jason forced Penguin to give them.

Jason grabs the pistol from the back and a few extra clips, then he grabs the sniper rifle and throws the strap over his shoulder. Finally he grabs the assault rifle and loads it. "Oh yeah, this'll do."

Oliver grabs all of the arrows out of the trunk and loads his quiver. He pulls his hood up and prepares for battle.

Oliver, Bruce, and Selina get in the Batmobile, and Jason jumps on his bike. "Let's do this." Jason announces into the comm. He revs the engine and drives into the heart of Joker's Territory.

As they drive they see the remainder of one of the first Star Labs. They see a statue of The Flash rusted and mostly melted.

Finally they reach the Flash Museum, still fairly intact. Jason gets off of the bike, and they get out of the car, when they see a group of men with clown makeup or clown masks start surrounding them. "Nice, more dumbasses," Jason comments. "I'll take out these clowns, you go get the kid." Bruce nods and the three of them run ahead, leaving Jason and about 50 clown goons.

With a smirk, Jason says, "Let's see whatcha got." A group of about ten clown charge at Jason. He presses the trigger of the assault rifle firing shots at the men, hitting all of his targets exactly where he wants to.

The remaining forty or so, look at each other nervously and charge him all at once. He fires his weapon taking out a good number, but then someone hits the gun out of his hand. Someone goes to hit him in the hand, he grabs the hand before it makes contact, and throws the man into another few men.

Bruce, Selina, and Oliver get to the center of the Flash museum and see Joker and too henchmen with tubes in their arms and tanks on their backs. "Hey Bats!" Joker shouts excitedly. "Remember Bane? Big guy on steroids? Kinda found his formula. Of course I put my own twist on it. HIT IT BOYS!"

The two henchmen press a button, pumping the drug into their systems. Their skin becomes a pale white, and their muscles become larger than anyone could do naturally. The two men run at the three of them.

Bruce and Oliver dive out of the way, while Selina slides under one of the giant's legs. "Hit the tubes!" Bruce shouts.

Oliver nods in acknowledgement, and fires two arrows at the tubes, however the arrows bounce off. "You didn't think it'd be that easy did you?" Joker asks. "HAHAHAHAHA!"

"What about an explosive arrow to the tank?" Oliver asks Bruce as he notches another arrow.

"OH NOOOOO!" Joker screams dramatically. "DON'T DO THAT! HEH HAHAHAHAAA HEHEHE!"

Firing the arrow, it hits the tank on one of big guy's backs, and explodes. As the smoke clears, Oliver realizes that the explosive did absolutely nothing. "Great," he mutters sarcastically, diving away from the giant attacker.

Bruce throws several explosive batarangs at the tank as well, but it doesn't damage it either. "Oliver, try sleeping gas arrow!"

He reaches into his quiver and notches the arrow. Letting go of the bowstring, the arrow hurls toward the man's face, dispersing the gas. The giant inhales and is seemingly unaffected. "Oh yeah," Joker starts, "I forgot to mention, the Joker toxin I mixed in with the venom, gives him a sort of immunity from other toxins, I don't want to bore you with any of the technicalities, but it works like a charm! HAHAHAHAHA!"

"Either of you have a new plan?" Selina asks and she flips over the giant, slashing it with her whip, but not hurting it at all.

Oliver's eyes widen, "I think I got something. Let's hope this works…" Oliver aims at the tank on the giant's back and presses a button on his robotic arm. As he presses the button, a lazer beams out of his robotic arm's palm, straight at the tank, causing it to explode. He then aims at the second one, and fires again, blowing it up as well. Letting out a sigh of relief, Oliver mutters, "Glad that worked."

The three of them advance toward the Joker, passing the fallen, roided out men. "It's over Joker," Bruce tells him, the seriousness heard in each word.

"Don't think so," Joker tells him, he presses a button, and the floor between them opens, leaving a giant hole that leads into the abyss, and all around them, barriers crash down, only allowing them to go forward. "That is around 200 ft deep. There is nothing for your grappling hook or whip to attach to, so the only way to get across is by jumping, but that's not smart either. Have fun! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Joker runs from them, the gaping hole in the ground stopping them from following, and the barriers stopping them from exiting the building and circling around.

"We have to jump," Bruce tells them sternly.

Eyeing the size of the hole, Selina responds, "Do you think you can make the jump?"

"I can glide, can you guys make it?" he asks.

Not waiting for Oliver to respond, Selina tells him, "We can make it, you go ahead since you'll be the quickest across." Nodding, Bruce runs and glides across the hole, going after Joker.

Heading over to the wall, begins running, until she is running along the wall and over the hole. She easily makes it to the other side, not even breaking a sweat. "C'mon!" Selina calls.

Oliver exhales dramatically, before exclaiming, "I'm fifty years old, I'm getting way too old for this shit!" He runs along the same trail as Selina, running along the wall successfully, at first.

Losing his footing, he begins falling, but feels a hand grap him by the hood. "I'm definitely way too old for this," he tells her, as he grabs her hand and begins climbing up. "I'm going on a nice vacation after this!"

They run off in the direction that Bruce chased after Joker. They find him having a standoff with the Joker, but their seems to be a one way mirror. They're able to see everything, but Bruce doesn't see them. They bang on the glass, trying to get through, to no avail.

They watch as Joker holds the boy by the collar of his shirt, with a gun to his temple. "Did they even tell you why you have to save this boy?" When Bruce doesn't respond, Joker tells him, "BRUCE! I expected better from you. No research, preparation, just vengeful pursuit. Does the boy remind you of anyone?"

"I'm not here to play your games, Joker!"

With a wide grin, Joker responds, "Maybe not… but you will. If you want this boy to survive, you will. After all you don't want your son to die." Bruce's eyes widen in shock, then narrow in observation, trying to decipher any truth behind it. "That got your attention. Yeah the whole son thing usually does. I mean, technically he's not your son, but hell, neither was DICK! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Bruce snaps, flying at the Joker at speeds he didn't even know he could still reach. In a single moment, Bruce went from standing thirty feet from Joker, to having his throat in his hand. "Don't you dare say one more word," he threatens the clown.

Choking, Joker remarks, "Or what? You'll kill me? You don't have the balls! Unless it takes me killing two of your kids, crippling one, and making one comatose. Heh." He begins to laugh, but Bruce's grip tightens around his throat, stopping further noise. "You… You kn...ow wha...t? Maybe… I'll kill another of your kids to see… if that makes you cross…. Heh!"

Tightening his grip even more, Bruce throws the Joker onto the ground. He throws a punch, his fist connecting with the clown's face. Joker reaches for his holster, before he can use it, Bruce stomps on Joker's wrist, crushing the bone. He kicks the gun away, and hurls his fist at the jester once more.

Feeling unsatisfied, he grabs the gun off of the ground, and crouches down next to Joker. Turning the gun, he hits Joker in the face with the butt of the gun. Once. Twice. Three times.

Joker lies on the ground, blood dripping from his nose, his lips redder than usual from all of the blood. His hair is messier than usual, dripping with sweat.

"Still not going to finish it?" Joker asks, sporting a wide grin.

"Not done yet," Bruce comments. He puts the gun on his belt, and makes a fist. Striking with a carefully placed punch, that shatters Joker's collarbone. He grabs Joker's left hand, and starts breaking his fingers. One by one. First his index snaps under the tension. Then his middle finger cracks. Followed by the ring finger and pinky.

Deciding he's finished, Bruce removes the gun from his belt, and turns off the safety. He aims carefully at Joker's face, not minding the terrified looks of the young boy beside him.

Selina and Ollie watch as Bruce raises his gun. "NO! BRUCE! DON'T DO IT!" Selina screams.

Taking out his last explosive arrow, Oliver fires at the glass, shattering it finally. "Bruce don't do it!" Selina and Oliver scream, but Bruce pays them no mind.

And then, a shot rings out, and Joker's brains are splattered all over the floor.


End file.
